Tom Frewen: NZ on Air Spooked by Political Interference

NZ On Air Independence Under Threat Over TV3 Child Poverty Doco

A move to censor
television programmes likely to embarrass the government
during election campaigns is being considered by the
broadcasting funding agency, NZ on Air.

The minutes of the
NZ on Air board’s December meeting reveals a decision
"to seek legal advice on whether NZ on Air could require
an additional clause in the broadcast covenant requiring
broadcasters not to screen programmes likely to be an
election issue within the Election Period as defined in the
Broadcasting Act".

A reaction to TV3’s screening of Bryan Bruce’s documentary on child poverty four days
before the general election on Saturday 26 November, the
proposed ban on television programmes "discussing topics
likely to be an election issue" during an election
campaign would be an extraordinary first for a western
democracy, giving total control over television current
affairs to a government agency run by political appointees
and bureaucrats.

A publicity photo for Bryan Bruce's Inside Child Poverty : A Special Report

The alarm at TV3’s decision to screen
the documentary on Tuesday 22 November at 7.30pm, a slot
normally occupied by "reality" genre programmes such as
"Drug Bust" and "Kalgoorlie Cops", was first raised
by a board member, Stephen McElrea, who also happens to be
John Key’s electorate chairman and the National Party’s
northern region deputy chairman.

"Was NZOA aware that
this doco was to be scheduled 4 days before the election?"
he queried on Thursday 17 November to NZ on Air board
chairman, Neil Walter, and chief executive, Jane
Wrightson.

"If not, should we have been? To me, it falls
into the area of caution we show about political satire near
elections."

After 20 years with TVNZ as a producer,
director and manager, McElrea should be able to distinguish
the difference between documentary and satire. Or is there a
more sinister interpretation of his admission, as the reason
for the disappearance of political satire from out screens
in recent years?

Certainly, the panic his email sparked at
NZ on Air would make a good script for "Yes Minister".

Next day, Neil Walter, a former secretary of Foreign
Affairs appointed by Labour, emails his fellow board
members, informing them that, to avoid the delay in
canvassing their opinions, he’s already given the
minister (Jonathan Coleman) "a heads-up [and] decided
after talking with Jane (Wrightson) that we should register
our strong disappointment with TV3 and put that in front of
the Minister today."

Warning them that "we could
attract some flak", he says "Time will tell how badly we
have been dropped in it."

The chairman’s fear of being
"dropped in it" was echoed in his chief executive’s
email to the Minister’s Beehive office and fellow
broadcasting bureaucrats at the Ministry for Culture and
Heritage. "We consider that we have been dropped in it on
this occasion" Jane Wrightson told them, attaching a copy
of a letter she’d written that day to Sussan Turner,
managing director of TV3’s owner MediaWorks.

"We are jealous of our reputation as a
politically neutral and impartial agency and put
considerable effort into protecting that reputation. We take
pains to ensure that we do not put ourselves in a position
where we can be accused of political bias."

Wrightson
told TV3 that NZ on Air was "deeply disappointed" by the
scheduling decision which risked "damaging NZ on Air’s
reputation and calls into question our political
impartiality."

Fears of having caused embarrassment to
themselves and their political masters, evident as the main
concern for Walter and Wrightson in their emails, proved
groundless. NZ on Air didn’t rate a mention in comment on
the programme in the days after it was screened.
Wrightson’s relief is evident in an email to McElrea and
other board members on Thursday 24 November. Noting that
public debate had been confined to the views on the
appropriate political response to child poverty "rather
than party-specific", she added: "And thus far, no
serious criticism of NZ on Air thankfully. Mainstream press
more interested in tea party."

McElrea, however,
believed his fellow board members should read a blog by Karl
du Fresne who saw the documentary as further evidence in
support of his belief in TV3’s editorial bias against
Key’s National-led government.

Apart from a passing reference to NZ on Air in du Fresne’s blog (initially 23 November then a follow up December 7), the only other
criticism appears to have been in one email from Alastair
Bell. Although not included with documents requested under
the Official Information Act, a response to it from the
chairman says: "I categorically reject the suggestion that
New Zealand on Air was in any way involved in the
broadcaster’s decision to screen the programme at that
time."

Alastair Bell’s email was sent on Tuesday 6
December, two days before the NZ on Air’s board meeting on
Thursday 8 December to which Sussan Turner was summonsed to
"discuss" the scheduling of documentary. "Although we
were not party to the scheduling decision, we now stand
accused of political bias," she was informed in a letter
from Wrightson.

In fact, the only accusation against NZ on
Air arising from the scheduling was in the one email which,
if it was from the same Alastair Bell who is on the National
Party’s board, manages media and public relations for
political conferences and was a senior adviser to Jenny
Shipley, would confirm just how little respect the Key
government has for its broadcast funding agency’s supposed
political neutrality and
independence.

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